Hello
Given that the SA-AMSAT payload on SO-67 is shared with the satellite back-up
TT&C transponder, there is unfortunately not a way to keep the payload
switched on permanently, or even semi-permanently. For the lifetime of the
satellite we will therefore have to do with active scheduling.
In an effort to make this as painless as possible, I would like to request
comments on the possible use of regional coordinators, which I believe worked
quite well for SO-35. Such coordinators would then be responsible for
setting up schedules in advance for their specific regions, taking into
account obviously the pool of possible satellite passes, as well as local
events / fairs etc. We would then simply load the schedules on a weekly
basis.
Up 'till now I have mainly focused on Europe, RSA, South America, North
America / Canada, Japan and Australia / NZ. I would like to invite
suggestions for use of the payload over other regions as well. This adds to
the previous point.
Regarding possible activation at night: this is entirely possible, but would
have to be planned / managed more actively, given the power limitations in
eclipse. We have yet to experiment with this and see what the available
capacity would be.
Please mail responses to this bulletin board, or if you prefer, to my work
address: jak "at" sunspace "dot" co "dot" za
Best regards
Jan-Albert (ZR1JAK)
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